Blood and Blood Products

Every 2 seconds someone in the U.S. receives a blood transfusion. Blood and blood products, despite years of research, have yet to be replicated in a lab. Whole blood consists of living cells in a non-living matrix and makes up 8% of your total body weight. Transfusions of blood products can only take place when donor blood is available.

The process of whole blood centrifuging occurs when fresh donor blood is placed into a centrifuge machine to be spun causing the blood to be separated by components. The heavier elements (RBC's) collect at the bottom of the tube and the lighter elements stay at the top (WBC, Plt's, & plasma). After centrifuge, three layers present in the blood tube:

Plasma:

Blood Component Therapy

Warmed fresh whole blood (WFWB) is rarely transfused in the United States as it has an extremely short shelf life and must be transfused within hours of collection. In order to decrease waste and individualize treatment, whole blood is centrifuged to produce four different blood components.

Each blood product has a specific purpose for transfusion. Depending on the patient's clinical picture he/she may not need all the different components; that makes blood component therapy an ideal treatment plan for many different clinical pictures.

Read on for a description of each blood product's uses of administration, storage, and handling recommendations: